Denver Fashion Week style, trends becoming bolder, more sustainable

When singer, dancer and designer N3PTUNE leaves the house, he doesn’t sacrifice looks for comfort.

“Oh no, I’m feeling good,” he said when asked if he was overheated on a recent, sunny weekday. “The vest is the only heavy thing, and it not that heavy.”

It was 90-plus degrees on the concrete patio of The Bardo Coffee House on South Broadway, and only a table umbrella provided shade. Denver-based N3PTUNE, meanwhile, was resplendent from head to toe. A pair of Afro puffs on the top of his head broke through a close-fitting, platinum wig that hid his eyes. Over a sheer, black, body-hugging undergarment and pants, he wore a petite, construction-yellow vest of faux fur. His highest-heeled shoes added an extra chunky base.

“My great grandmother was a seamstress, so fashion is my bread and butter,” he said as he pounded his chest with pride. “You can put somebody in some nice-(arse) clothes, but you can’t teach everybody style.”

In Denver, comfort tends to be the style. To the extent that our look is different from other cities, Mile High City residents dress in outdoorsy, informal clothing, leaning on athleisure wear and Western accents such as hats and boots. Earth tones abound.

Literally and figuratively, Denver sits somewhere between the Patagonia-loving high country and the modest, functional wear on the plains. But when you zoom out, designers say, it’s more of a kaleidoscope than a crisp image. Economic background, culture and taste play a factor, as well as one’s age group. Most Boomers aren’t wearing graphic T-shirts, short pants, sports bras or Doc Martens, nor would many of them care that ’90s looks are back for younger people.

It’s even harder to generalize in the wake of a pandemic that practically forced us into sweatpants and shorts, but that prompted bolder looks when we were returned to public life. The fuse between trends sparking and trends exploding nationally is shorter-burn than usual, too, thanks to social media.

Still, Denver’s population growth and increasing urban density has added a creeping, artsy sophistication to our style that reeks of bigger cities. Between runway shows, museum exhibits, and fashion incubators, there are a lot of exciting advances most of us haven’t seen. At least not yet. Here’s what to watch.

Fashion can be trashy, and sustainable

Drag queens, pop stars and TikTok videos have helped nudge the trash-fashion trend toward the mainstream, with shows such as Meow Wolf Denver’s “Absolute Rubbish” showcasing the latest designs. It’s a reaction in many ways to the proliferation of factory-sourced, fast-fashion clothing that clogs discount chains and quickly ends up in donation bins (or landfills), designers said.

“The fashion industry worldwide is such an enormous polluter,” said Kate Major, Meow Wolf’s costume designer who curated the 20 artists, mostly local, in the shows. “Here in Denver, we’re a very green city to begin with, so a lot of designers are looking at how to make couture-level designs sustainable, accessible, and affordable.”

Sustainable fashion prioritizes all-natural materials alongside looks, playing into both consumer psychology (feeling good about your purchase) and environmental stewardship.

“What’s surprising to me is that coutre designers, with the high-end and upscale pieces, are sometimes upcycling fabrics and materials,” said Nikki Strickler, a runway producer for Denver Fashion Week (DFW) and a former, Los Angeles-based model. “We have a whole night dedicated to that this season, and it’s really moved to the forefront.”

Fashion is radical, and narrative

“The bodies hold the stories the designer is trying to tell,” said Dominique Christina, who co-curated Sept. 13’s “Lawless: A Fall Fashion Experience” at the MCA Holiday Theater, along with DNA Picasso.

“Lawless” looked at fashion as identity, both personal and political. Participating designer Faatma Be One is an Iranian American multidisciplinary artist who, as a resident alien and immigrant, is both invisible in the broader culture and also quickly categorized by it as a second-class citizen, Christina said.

“She has elected to generate art from (the labels) as a kind of resistance to being labeled at all,” Christina said. “Faatma (explored) the idea that, as it turns out, invisibility really is a super power.”

Local designers/labels Allegra, Chance of Uniq Jeans, Menez to Society, and Faatma also exhibited at the show, although it was hard to pick just four, said co-curator DNA Picasso.

The day after the Holiday Theater event, the Buell Theatre also welcomed the African Creators Festival, featuring music and fashion designs from top African designers. The showcasing of formerly marginalized groups in Denver and broader U.S. fashion is a step forward, designers said.

Fashion is bold

Denver Fashion Week’s fall showcase returns Nov. 9-17, with themed shows including Streetwear & Sneakers, Maximalism and Society. You can probably guess what some of those look like, but the Maximalism show is a grab-bag that honors the rise of hyperpop (a maximalist-music genre), psychedelic overtones, and a disregard for the bland, held-back looks of casual fashion.

Of course, if you’re dressing in traditional business attire or a work uniform, you likely aren’t focused on subverting your environment, even with the best of fits. But that changes in social situations, in bars, restaurants, parties, and concerts. People can look one way at the gym, and another at a street festival, but neither defines their overall style.

That leaves a lot of room for experimentation.

“Some of these local designers are doing very avant-garde styles with hints of camp,” DFW’s Strickler said. “Anyone can understand what minimalism is, so this is the opposite — taking mixed, matching patterns or overdoing it with accessories, or big and bold shapes and colors and silhouettes. It’s doing the most, with the most, and it overlaps a lot with streetwear.”

Fashion is individual, and it doesn’t have to be fancy

Fashion is not the sole province of runway shows and Instagram celebrities. Really, it’s anything you wear and the way you wear it, whether practical, aesthetic or some combination of the two.

“I end up doing my own thing,” said N3PTUNE, who’s gotten nearly as much acclaim for his sexy, confrontational looks as his music — think netting, giant shoulder pads, color-coordinated hair and accessories, and the occasional gas mask. “Give me some damn white sneakers, jeans and an orange shirt and I’ll turn it into streetwear.”

The highs and lows of fashion culture can be dizzying but entertaining. Denver Art Museum hosted the largest Dior collection outside of France in the 74-year history of the fashion house, DNA Picasso said, and major fashion conglomerate, VF Corp, recently relocated its headquarters to Denver, 303 Magazine reported.